I want to thank Congressman Tom Reed for holding a town hall meeting to get input from his constituency regarding healthcare reform. I had the opportunity to attend the meeting in Cherry Creek. During that meeting Congressman Reed heard from many members of the community about their ...

Earlier this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a plan to offer college tuition-free at New York’s public colleges and universities. This is a pioneering proposal that will bring much-needed tuition support for working- and middle-class families across New York, and I’m glad to support ...

I think of my mother so often. I feel her presence. We were so lucky to have a mother with a good sense of humor and good philosophy of life. She took everything in her stride. Nothing was too much for her. She’d say in Italian, “What’s it take?” Nothing was too much trouble. What a ...

The Trump administration has become widely identified with deceptive stock phrases. Ironically, his claims about immigration at the Mexican border is itself “fake news.” For example, immigration from Mexico peaked in 2005. And since 2009, Mexicans (and their U.S. born children) have been ...

I don’t listen to enough TV or major radio to keep up on the secondary news so was grateful to a dear friend who alerted me to the story on grapes and Mozart. Turns out that, for over a decade now, the owner of a vineyard in Italy has been piping Mozart into one of his vineyards. And, it ...

What should we replace Obamacare with? Perhaps we should try freedom. The freedom to choose inexpensive insurance free of government dictates. The freedom to save unlimited amounts in a health savings account. The freedom to buy insurance across state lines. The freedom for all ...

Another catchy phrase to make one think that changing the time is not such a big deal — “spring forward” they say. Well, springing forward maybe easy for some, but not if you own a dog. Dogs don’t know the first thing about losing an hour of sleep as we are forced to “spring ...

This past Saturday our Congressman Tom Reed held four town hall meetings in Ithaca, Ovid, Manchester, and Pultney, The day started real early for those attending the Ithaca meeting. Tickets were issued at 6 a.m. with the doors opening at 7. The actual meeting didn’t occur till 8 and only ...

What busy and productive learning, teaching, and research activity is located at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Indeed, the university is a cultural and economic powerhouse: exemplar in teaching, creative in research, and dedicated to service with a creative cultural and ...

I hope you find this story as interesting as I did. Dunkirk’s Mayor of Central Avenue told it to me one afternoon in February. That gentleman is Joe Muscato. I sat down with Joe at The Studio, the beauty salon that he and his wife, Sally, have operated for nearly 54 years. He detailed ...

This newspaper recently ran a compelling Publisher’s notebook by John D’Agostino (Feb. 17) on the subject of “free” college, discussing the hotly debated (and incredibly nuanced) Excelsior Scholarship Program. It warned of hidden costs lurking in the shadowy sub-text of any such ...

I sat in my living room reading this article last night with painfully throbbing ears and a headache, due to turbine noise that penetrates through the walls of my house. The noise kept me awake until 3 a.m. I had to write a reply to the tripe that was published in the OBSERVER (Feb. 19). I ...

In January, New Flyer of America, Inc. opened its doors in Chautauqua County, in a facility developed through the renovation of a grocery store at 220 Fluvanna Ave. The high-tech manufacturer of transit busses is a leader in its industry and as part of its opening, has promised 40 new jobs. ...

The classic movie, “South Pacific,” is a powerful story of love and war set in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific during World War II. The crux of the film is the song “You Have to be Carefully Taught,” which producers wanted to cut from the production. Song writers Rodgers ...

The Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, has such a vast array of benefits, many people are not even aware of. Why repeal and replace? Would people even know all that would be taken away? I would like to focus on just one aspect, Medicare, as an example. There is the obvious ...

Recently the OBSERVER ran a poll question asking if readers had read a book in the last week and it kind of stirred up memories of my own reading history. Like most people of my age I was introduced to reading in the first grade with the “Dick and Jane” books. I think that I made normal ...

I hope many of you remember the magnificent weather we were blessed with for much of mid-January. I know it wasn’t a complete anomaly for I recall last year at about the same time hearing a bunch of locals say how grateful they were to have passed up their usual winter trek south. They had ...

On behalf of the Blue Star Mothers, NY Chapter 4, thank you for making our Christmas wish come true through your generous donation and support for our organization as we work to support our military. This year we experienced two things we had never dreamed possible! First is that on Dec. 3, ...

With improving technology, it is only a matter of time before parents can (largely) determine their children’s sexual orientation. When they can do so, should they refrain from having gay children? Depending on the theory, sexual orientation focuses on desire, behavior, or ...

With all of our knowledge, there are some things we stuff in the drawer for another day labeled “unknowable.” We don’t waste time on it, because we don’t know where to start. Perhaps we are not equipped to look for an answer. I appeal here not to John Doe, but to the scientists, who ...